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Conductive Concrete Overlay For Bridge Deck Deicing: Mixture Proportioning, Optimization, And Properties, Sherif Yehia, Christopher Tuan

Christopher Y. Tuan

Bridge pavement surfaces are prone to ice accumulation, making winter travel hazardous. Current practice is to use road salt and deicing chemicals, that cause damage to concrete and corrosion of reinforcing steel. A thin conductive concrete overlay can generate enough heat to prevent ice formation on a bridge deck. Conductive concrete is a cementitious admixture containing electrically conductive components that attain stable and high electrical conductivity. Due to the electrical resistance and impedance in conductive concrete, heat is generated when connected to a power source, and can be used for deicing or anti-icing. Conductive concrete is a relatively new material …

Airfield Pavement Deicing With Conductive Concrete Overlay, Sherif Yehia, Christopher Tuan

Christopher Y. Tuan

Conductive concrete is a cementitious admixture containing a certain volumetric ratio of electrically conductive materials to attain high and stable electrical conductivity. Due to its electrical resistance, a thin overlay of conductive concrete can generate enough heat to prevent ice formation when energized by AC power. Under a research sponsored by Nebraska Department of Roads, Yehia and Tuan developed a mix specifically for concrete bridge deck deicing while meeting the ASTM and AASHTO strength specifications for overlay construction. An average thermal power of 591 W/m2 (55 W/ft2) with a heating rate of 0.56oC/min (1oF/min) was generated by a 1.2 m …

Implementation Of Conductive Concrete Overlay For Bridge Deck Deicing At Roca, Nebraska, Christopher Y. Tuan, Sherif A. Yehia

Christopher Y. Tuan

Conductive concrete is a relatively new material technology developed to achieve high electrical conductivity and high mechanical strength. In research sponsored by Nebraska Department of Roads, a conductive concrete mix specifically for bridge deck deicing was developed. In this application, a conductive concrete overlay is cast on top of a bridge deck for deicing and anti-icing.

This technology has been successfully implemented in a demonstration project at Roca, about 15 mi south of Lincoln, Nebraska. The Roca Spur Bridge has a 36-m (117-ft) long and 8.5- m (28-ft) wide conductive concrete inlay. Temperature sensors and a microprocessor-based controller system were …